Shirt and process of making same



May 2s, .1940. c. DU FREE 2,202,625

SHIRT AND PROCESS 0F MAKING SAME Filed May 26, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 t Z9 I /z//f/f" mlm l G a f6* I x :y

mi: f 5- INVENTOR, COR/VENUS DU Pme-E A TTORNEYS May 28, 1940. c. Du PREE SHIRT AND PROCESS OF' MAKINGSAME Filed May 2e, 1938 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented May 28, 1940 SHIRT AND Paooiiss or MAKING SAME Cornelius Du Prec, Wyckoff, N. J., assignor to The Manhattan Shirt Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 26, 1938, Serial No. 210,098

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shirts and like articles and is especially useful in connection with the manufacture of mens outer shirts.

Mens outer shirts have been made for many years both of solid colors (whites, blues, etc.) and of a variety of colors, particularly of the character in which the colors are in the forms of stripes, in which the stripes run lengthwise of the body of the shirt. It has been exceedingly difficult tomanufacture mens shirts, particularly of the striped type, on a rapid commercial basis and retain the substantial straight up and down direction of the stripes which lie immediately at the overlapping portions or stay-pieces which provide the shirt opening, the underlapping portion carrying the buttons and the overlapping portion carrying the buttonholes. Thus, for instance, in the striped type of shirts, if the material is so cut that a particular stripe should lie close to the free edge of the overlapping portion of the shirt opening, it was found, in the earlier practice, that unless the work was done with great care by the operator, that particular stripe would be irregular and out of a true up and down direction with respect to the extreme edge of the free edge of the overlapping portion, often running over the edge and toward the underside thereof and then again appearing on the exposed portion of the free edge. Such results were highly obn jectionable and the operator, therefore, had to proceed `with unusual caution in preparing both portions bordering the shirt opening, in an effort to maintain the harmony and direction of the stripes in the region bordering both the underlapping portion and the overlapping portion oi the shirt. In fact no practical method was available to shirt makers permitting the automatic and ready attachment of shirt stay-pieces to the shirt body and maintenance of the uniformity and harmony of the stripes. I

Ihis invention contemplates the correction of such difficulties and provides the quick and satism factory manufacture on a commercial scale of mens shirts of the open front type, in which the up and down Straight direction of the stripes is maintained as well as harmony of the pattern.

In the accompanying drawings, which represent this invention and the appliances for practicing the same in connection with the manufacture of mens shirts, Fig. 1 shows the front portion of the body of a mans shirt partly broken away to expose the underlapped portion or button staypiece (carrying the buttons); Fig. 2 represents the underside or inside of the overlapping portion or buttonhole stay-piece (carrying the buttonholes) of a mans shirt, in the region of the opening thereof and from the collar to a point slightly below the lowermost buttonhole; Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3 3 of Fig. l; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the buttonhole stay-piece, as manufactured prior to assembly in the shirt; Fig. 5 is a plan view of two formers for leading and forming the fabric strips constituting a staypiece to a two needle sewing machine; Fig. 6 is a side View of the devices of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a section of the formers on the line 1-1 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a plan View of aguide for guiding a Staypiece of Fig. 4, and for folding an edge of one of the portions of a shirt front over an edge of a stay-piece and leading the same to a needle; Fig. 9 is a side View of the devices of Fig. 8; Fig. l0 is a section on the line Ill-I0 of Fig. 8; Fig. 11 is a section on the line Il-Il of Fig. 8.

An open-front mans shirt is provided with a buttonhole stay-piece l (overlapping) which carries buttonholes 25. This stay-piece extends from the free edge 3 inwardly for a considerable distance (about one and one-half inches) having an inner free edge 4 which is not Stitched to the body of the Shirt, although along the central portion thereof, when the buttonholes are stitched through the front portion of the body of the shirt and through the stay-piece I, the stay-piece is anchored at spaced areas to the front of the shirt.

A like stay-piece 2 is provided for the buttons and this button staypiece also extends from the free edge 5 inwardly and unattached inside of the free edge 5 excepting at such points where the buttons 26 are sewn through the body of the shirt and the stay-piece 2.

Inasmuch as the buttonhole stay-piece 'l and the button stay-piece 2 are substantially alike, only the button stay-piece is here described in detail. A stay-piece comprises a lining 6 and a strip of striped, patterned material 1 having a pattern and stripes of the same kind as the body of the shirt and is generally known as self material. The lining 6 is preferably plain, White, woven material having the characteristic of acting also as a stiffener. Both the lining and the strip of Self material 1, are of the Same width (generally one and three-fourths inches.). The strip 1 of self material is cut in individual lengths, each sufficient for a single Shirt, whereas the lining material 6 is drawn from a roll. The lining Inaterial 6 and the strip 'l of self material are sewn together in flat surface engagement along edges 8 by a line of'stitching 9. The opposite edges of the lining 6 and the Strip 1 are each folded inwardly one-fourth of an inch to provide a generally finished edge I, sewn together by a line of stitches II. These two pieces of material can be readily united, as thus described, by a two needle sewing machine provided with suitable guides or formers. The lining 6 is drawn from a suitable roll through the former I2 and is delivered immediately in front of the twin needles I3 and presser feet. The individual strips 'I are successively fed into the former I4 and are ultimately delivered beneath the needles I3. The two fiat contacting side edges forming the edge 8 of the stay-piece, are sewn together by one of the needles I3 in flat surface condition, whereas the formers I2 and I4 make a single fold along the opposite edge of both the lining 6 and the strip 'I and deliver these two folder portions beneath the other needle I3, so that they will be stitched together in their folded relation toprovide four thicknesses along the edge 8, as is illustrated at the left side of Fig. 3. The continuous strip of lining material carrying the strips l, when completed in considerable numbers, are then cut up into individual units, for inclusion in shirts. Each severed unit or stay-piece I is substantially of a length equal to the distance from the collar band of a shirt to a point slightly beneath the lowermost buttonhole, the edge 8 of the stay-piece comprising two flat and unfolded edges sewn together by a single row of stitches and an opposite edge I!) made up of four thicknesses of material, a double thickness of the lining 6 and a double thickness of the self material l, turned and sewn together in a finished edge by a single row of stitches II. The stay-pieces 'therefore are substantially complete and ready for inclusion in a shirt. A buttonhole stay-piece is sewn to the appropriate portion of the shirt front I while the shirt front is a flat piece of pattern cut material before being united to the sleeves, to the back, or to the neckband.

The shirt front I5, when cut from a pattern, is laid out to allow three-fourths of an inch of material from a given stripe IB to the free edge 5 `of the button stay-piece, plus a suicient amount of material to provide a double fold-in portion Il. The strip I is secured to the self material of the shirt front I5 by inserting the edge 8 of the strip 'I between the fold II and the main portion of the shift front I5 and these parts are then secured by a single row of stitches I8 passing through the double thickness of material Il, lining 6, strip l, and the short front material I5, all as shown in cross section in Fig. 3. The operation of securing the buttonhole stay-piece I to the shirt front I5 may be accomplished with a single needle sewing machine provided Jwith suitable formers and an indicator as 'a visual means to the operator for guiding the cloth through the machine. Such a suitable assembly of devicesI is shown in Figs. 8 and 9, illustrating a former I9 which has a guide portion 2Q adapted to receive and guide the button stay-piece 2 toward the needle, in a flat condition with the lining 6 up. The edge of the shirt front I5 which is to be attached to the stay-piece is inserted into the hammer or folder 2| which is so shaped as to turn the edge of the shirt front I5 into the fold I'I and engaging the edge Il of the stay-piece 2 between the fold I'I and the shirt front I5. The operator, initially with the neck-end of the shirt first inserted through the guide ZI and under the needle, proceeds to stitch together the staypiece 7 and the shirt front, to form the edge 5 and when the stitching approaches the end of the stay-piece 2 such end is turned under to form the miter 22. The sewing machine is provided with an indicator 23 which is set so that the stripe I6 will be directly under the point 0f the indicator 23 and the position of the indicator 23 is set to allow three-fourths of an icch from the point of the indicator to the edge 3 0f the fold Il, the excess material over the said threefourths of an inch being taken up in the fold I1. The operator keeps the point of the indicator 23 on the stripe I6 and is thereby assured that not only will the stripe I6 run directly up and down on the shirt but all adjoining stripes between the stripe I3 and the edge 3 will uniformly follow the edge 3, retaining the harmony of the pattern and the substantial parallel relation of the stripes. The shirt front I5 now has attached to it the button stay-piece 2 which comprises at and near its edge 5 the double thickness of the flat meeting edges of the lining 6 and the strip 'I sewn together independently by the stitches 9, the encompassing double thickness I'I'rof the shirt front I5 and a portion of the shirt front I5 stitched together by the row of stitches I8. Inwardly of the edge 5 the stay-piece lies against the inside of the shirt front I5 with the lining 6 immediately next thereto, but free of the shirt front I5 along the edge I I).

The buttonhole stay-piece I is formed and sewn to the other half of the shirt in a like manner. The strip I6 is utilized as a guide in uniting the buttonhole stay-piece with the right side of the shirt front.

The stripe 2li positioned three-fourths of an inch inside of the free edge 3 of the buttonhole stay-piece, exactly determines `the line along which the bottons 26 are to be formed. The buttonholes, after their relative spacing is determined upon the stripe I6, are made through the shirt front I5 and the underlying staypiece by the usual buttonhole stitches bordering the stripe I6 and the buttonhole slit is the formed directly through. the stripe I6.

The stripe I B which is also positioned threefourths of an inch inside of the edge 5, determines the lengthwise line of the buttons 26, and the buttons, after their relative spacing tothe buttonholes is determined, are sewn directly over the stripe 24. When the shirt is buttoned, the two like stripes IB and 24 are in alignment substantially throughout the length of the staypieces and inasmuch as the striped pattern is uniformly printed on the shirt, the harmonious relation of all the stripes in and near the overlapping portions of the shirt is retained. This is observable by noting the uniformity ofthe spacing between the stripes 16a and 24a. The staypieces I and 2 having been thus secured to the two portions' of the shirt front and the buttonholes and buttons having been thus affixed as indicated, the uniformity of the pattern will be maintained in the shirt when it is completed with back, sleeves and collar. Y

It has not heretofore been possible to make striped pattern shirts in continuous, quick operations and maintain the uniformity of the stripes, because there was no knownmeth'od of automatically handling the Aparts making up the front of the shirt and maintaining the buttonhole stay-piece at all times exposed so that the operator might follow the stripel of the pattern as a guide in determining the position-of the buttonholes and buttons and at the same Atime predetermining the substantially parallel relation of the stripes in proximity to the overlap-5 ping portions to the edge 3 of the buttonhole stay-piece.

It isI to be observed that in the finished shirt, the shirt front l5 covers the buttonhole staypiece, the buttonhole stay-piece being on the inside of the shirt and the self fabric of the shirt front being a continuous piece of material from the sleeves around the edge 3. The button staypiece is likewisebeneath the right side of the shirt which is also a continuous piece of material.

This invention is also adaptable for use, in its broader scope, in connection with the manufacture of solid colored and White shirts.

I claim:

1. In the process ofmaking mens shirt fronts of the type in which the material comprises a pattern having stripes running straight up and down over the surface of the shirt front, which shirt fronts are adapted for inclusion in an openfront shirt, the steps comprising forming a staypiece by superposing a strip of lining and a strip of self material, stitching two side edges of a single thickness of each of said strips together to form a double thickness at said edge, turning in the opposite side edges of each of said strips and stitching them together to form four thicknesses of material, laying said stay-piece upon a shirt front before the Shirt front is assembled with the other fabric portions of the shirt, with the strip of self material up, turning the edge of the shirt front around the double thickened edge of said stay-piece with a stripe of the pattern close to the said edge and With the turned edge substantially parallel to the said stripe and turning the extreme edge of the shirt front tov form afold positioned beneath the stay-piece and next tothe strip of self material, stitching the shirt front, the double thickened edge of the stay-piece and the under-turned, folded edge of the shirt front together with a single row of stitches passing through all of the same, and positioning the roW of stitches by following the said stripe as a guide. w

2. In a shirt or the like having a front opening, a button stay-piece, a buttonhole stay-piece, each of said stay-pieces comprising a lining and a strip of self material stitched together at both side edges, each of said stay-pieces being independently formed apart from the shirt body and prior to association With the shirt body, at one edge said lining and said self material each being of a single thickness in surface engagement to form a doubled edge thickness in the stay-piece, the other edges of the lining and self material being turned in to form four thicknesses of material united by a single row of stitching passing through said four thicknesses of material, the free yedge of the front of thel shirt respective to each stay-piece passing around and under the edge of the stay-piece, comprising a double thickness, and a single row of stitches passing through the shirt front, the double thickness of the stay-piece. and the said under-turned portion of the shirt front; the edge of the staypiece comprising the four thicknesses of the material being unattached to the shirt front, and appropriate buttons and buttonholes formed on said shirt front and stay-pieces.

. CORNELIUS DU PREE. 

